Final Autumn
by Aegia
Summary: After the war with the Hidden Rain Village settled, Sakura returns home to find it in pieces along with her spirit. Although the others of Konoha are returning to their normal lives, Sakura finds it hard to move on ... alone (KakaSaku)


Welcome to my first Kakashi x Sakura fic. I have grown to adore this couple of a period of time. I would appreciate R&R as well. Enjoy.

Disclaimer - Sadly, I do not own Kakashi or any other Naruto characters

* * *

Ch. 1 You have Changed

_Peace_

_I find you once again_

_In my thoughts_

_Under my skin_

_Beside my red ripened katana_

_In the rainy Windowsill_

_Yet_

You have changed

* * *

She stands past the gate to her home. Her exhausted eyes drooped as she gazed down to the darkened village, paining her with it's silence. The silence was deafening inside her hollow ears. Slowly, lifting her pale hand she lowered her cat-like mask from her face. She knew that anyone could be watching her, discovering her identity that her ANBU mask had hidden. She didn't care. Her face showed that. A figure suddenly darted behind her, leaping from branch to branch. She heard it, but did not move. The figure appeared next to her, facing the town in a crouched position. Slowly, the figure stood.

"... Welcome home, Sakura" the figure spoke lowly, keeping it's eyes to the village ahead of them. Sakura said nothing, just closed her eyes as sleep called to her.

Morning. Sakura awoke to her clock alarm. She shifted on her sore side to see the time. 7:30AM. They would be gathering in the meeting room soon. She let her dull green eyes close for a moment before she sat up under the blankets, sliding her feet out from under the sheets to let them touch the ground. She stood and dragged her feet into the bathroom to take a shower. The hot water stung her at first as it beat down on her cuts and bruises. But it felt good to feel clean once again as she returned to the bedroom.

After getting dressed into her black shorts and long sleeve ANBU shirt, she quickly made a cup of coffee and headed for the door. She took her cloak from off of the chair and let it fall on her shoulders. Her eyes were caught as she slowly looked to the small hutch near the door. The piece of furniture was old and was an deep color of brown, but still delicately crafted. But she wasn't admiring the details, her thoughts were focused to that of which was inside the small cabinet near the bottom of the hutch. She stood that way for a moment longer before quickly turning away, opening the door and closing it sharply as she stepped outside.

The wind instantly blew her hair madly in front of her face, causing her eyes to wince slightly. But the wind quickly died and she moved to look down the town streets. Empty. Slowly, she began her way up the road.

* * *

"... Tsunade. Do you believe that this is the best way to handle the situation?" a shadowy young man with spiky black hair, pulled back tightly to a tie behind his head.

Tsunade remained quiet a moment longer after the man spoke. "... I would not have chosen this way if I didn't believe my decision one hundred percent, Shikamaru" she spoke quietly, her gaze was lowered to the table where the three men and herself were sitting at in the ANBU office.

Another man sighed leaning back on his chair and resting a hand on his forehead. He seemed a bit older than the younger man, and his hair was a few shades lighter of brown. "Wow... well then. Who shall be in charge while you are gone?" he asked, keeping his frustrated eyes on Tsunade.

Tsunade quickly looked up at Genma as he asked her. Quickly, without a second thought, she began to speak "... Shikamaru ... he will take my place" The others nodded their head in agreement. Shikamaru, eyes shaken, slowly nodded as well.

Everyone stayed quiet a moment later before Genma brought up another thought "... You know... Sakura took the loss quite hard... I wouldn't want her to change in the way she performed her missions because of it" he said, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes, I have noticed with these past few absences. But, I do have a way to keep an eye on her. See how she is keeping up and all" Tsunade answered quickly and the room fell silent once more.

* * *

Sakura stood out upon a softly grassed plain just out of reach of the quiet town streets. Her green eyes were tilted downwards, looking to the stone piece coming from the ground. Slowly, she lowered herself to her knees to begin reading the words that had rung in her head the past several days.

Uzumaki Naruto

Age of Death: 20

'Jounin in presence,

Hokage in spirit'

Sakura silently read and re-read the tombstone of her deceased friend once and again before she closed her eyes and lowered her head. Her fingers lightly traced over the carvings of his name, but said nothing.

"... back again, Sakura?" a voice spoken quietly darted to her ears from the overhanging trees. Sakura listened and slowly let her hand fall from the stone.

"You know I cannot leave him alone, Kakashi" Sakura spoke quietly, her emerald eyes slowly opened as she moved to stand once more.

Kakashi winced at her words, "I know... I just came to see how you were" he said from his sitting position on an overhanging tree branch. Sakura did not respond. Instead, they both stayed in silence, letting the wind speak for Sakura's feelings as it madly blew past them in a quick rush before everything calmed once more.

"... Will Sasuke ... come back?" Sakura finally asked as she turned her dull green eyes up to Kakashi. He kept his eyes on hers as she looked up to him, the slight smile under his face faded quickly with her question as another breeze blew past.

"I ... don't know..." he said lowly, lowering his gaze to the ground in front of him. With that, Sakura quickly looked away feeling her eyes become hot with forming tears. She didn't want to cry, not in front of Naruto. With a burst of twirling wind, she disappeared, leaving Kakashi alone. "... Sakura" he said, closing his eyes slowly before opening them to look to the tombstone "Naruto, forgive them"

* * *

After an hour or so, Kakashi arrived at the ANBU offices to see Tsunade walking out. He stopped and bowed his head to her, but before he looked up she spoke

"Don't do that Kakashi, it sickens me" she said, knowing that she had enjoyed such an act of respect before, but now, after the war, it felt so wrong. Kakashi slowly lifted his head, his usually piercing eyes, troublesome. Tsunade could see the difference "... You went to see her" his silence spoke for itself. Tsunade sighed lightly "And? How is she?"

"Not well, it seems as if she only thinks about Naruto ... and Sasuke." He said, paining slightly as he spoke Sasuke's name.

"I see" she said expectantly "I suppose one can't blame her. She is alone now after all" Kakashi lowered his gaze slightly with her words and she watched him "Kakashi, I know that you are one of the only ones left that is close to Sakura. And you do know how valuable she is to the ANBU forces, being our top intelligence ANBU. It would be devastating loss if her grief prevented her from completing her objectives" she said, pausing a moment before continuing "... That is all the more reason why I need you to keep an eye on her for me. Make sure she is staying on task. I know you can help take some of the grief off her shoulders as well ... And it is not only I who request that you do this. The entire ANBU office needs this favor." She paused again looking to him. Seeing his eyes shake for a moment before they grew dull once more. "Please... Kakashi"

Kakashi was contemplating his decision. He knew that Sakura needed his help now, and now he knew that the Hokage needed his help... but what would happen if he would fail? He sighed before looking up to her pleading eyes, knowing what he had to say.

* * *

Sakura sat at her kitchen table, her palms rested lightly on her knees and her eyes were red from tears. So much had happened the last few months. It all seemed a blur to her. Slowly, her swollen eyes closed as figments of her memory flickered by.

The war with the Hidden rain village had begun two years ago, but the cause had started long before. Hidden rain had been sending different ANBU from their gathering information squadron to break into the Konoha offices and retrieve confidential ANBU files for five years. One autumn day, a Konoha Jounin witnessed the Hidden rain ANBU in the process of stealing files from the offices. The news was instantly brought to the Hokage, Tsunade. And, one week later, the ANBUs were caught and brought under custody. It wasn't long before the weaker of the three ANBU finally gave in and told Tsunade of their instructions. The discovery came as quite a shock. It was long before Hidden rain had noticed that the ANBU had not returned. A few days after, an assassination occurred in Konoha village. An ANBU had come in the middle of the night and killed a Konoha medical and a highly renown Jounin. Since then, the war had begun, and had only gone down from there. Jounins and ANBU were sent daily to fight against Hidden rain ... including.

"Sakura? Sakura, are you home?" a loud knock came from the door causing Sakura to blink away her thoughts. The voice was easy to recognize and although she didn't want to speak with anyone right now, she walked and opened the door slightly. The blonde peeked in and smiled as Sakura opened the door "Sakura, I knew that you'd be home. You must come with me, everyone is down at the pub as we speak" Sakura looked at Ino blankly before looking up to the sky. Dark already? She didn't realize how long she had been inside.

"... Ino, I don't really think I'm up for drinks right now." She said lowly looking back to Ino, seeing that her smile still didn't fade

"Come now, Sakura. Just for a while. Then I promise we can go home. It'll be good for you to get out of the house" Ino quickly nodded and Sakura knew that she would never leave until she said what Ino wanted to hear.

"... Alright"

* * *

The pub was busy with the hustle of people. Drinks in piles all over the tables. Genma, Koteski, Gai, Anko, and Kakashi sat at their usual table in the corner. Genma, of course, was the one surrounded by the empty glasses with the smug grim on his face. The rest found his drunk tactics quite amusing.

"Waitress! Yeah! Bring another round of the special over, would ya ... yeah..." Genma yelled groggily as faces turned to look to him. Kakashi smirked under his mask

"Don't you think you should take a break, Genma?" Kakashi said looking to the man at his side. Genma's eyes widened happily as the drinks arrived, ignoring Kakashi's question.

Ino quickly entered with Sakura trailing behind slowly. "Ai! I'm back." Ino announced happily as she sat at a table with Choji, Shikamaru, Tenten, Kiba, and Neji. Tenten smiled to Ino as a welcome, while the men raised a hand for a hello. Sakura stood off to the side, feeling as if she was out of place 'I shouldn't be here. It doesn't feel right' She thought to herself

Kakashi had seen Ino and Sakura enter. He kept his silver eyes on Sakura, seeing that she hadn't changed from earlier this morning. "Sakura" he called to her after watching her a moment. Her eyes quickly darted up at the sound of his voice and saw the group in the back. She took his calling as an invitation to come sit with them, but she hesitated 'Just go home, Sakura' she told herself. But still, she could see Kakashi's smile under his mask and knew it would be rude. Slowly, she made her way over to the table, taking a seat between Koteski and Kakashi. She quietly said her hellos with a wave as Genma pushed some drinks in front of her. The conversation began again as they reminisced humorously about previous days, with a Genma moment every so often.

Kakashi watched Sakura over his shoulder, seeing that her mood wasn't improving much, despite the effects of the alcohol. 'C'mon Sakura, you don't need to face this alone' he thought to himself before looking away and shooting a glance at the clock 11:47pm.

Sakura didn't feel like drinking, not yet. Laughs continued throughout the table, but she only smiled ever so weakily at times. She glanced up at the clock 11:55pm, and sighed lightly. Looking up at the others she spoke.

"It's getting pretty late, I think I'll start to head home" she nodded her head to the group before beginning to stand. The smiling faces looked up to her drunkily before waving their goodbyes. Kakashi, instead, kept his eyes lowered with disappointment.

* * *

After a few more drinks, Kakashi stood to leave as well. By then, the table was ready to leave too, but the tray of full glasses compelled them to stay a bit longer.

Kakashi said his goodbyes before beginning to make his way back to his apartment. The wind had died down in the past few hours, making the weather quite comfortable. He slid his fingers through his silver hair merely by habit before looking up and stopping to a halt. His eyes drooped as he stared in front of him. Sakura was ahead a few yards away standing in front of Naruto's tombstone. Kakashi stood silently as an unusual wind blew from behind, forcing his silver hair back into it's previous place.

"... Sakura" he whispered into the wind, "... You've changed"

* * *

There you have it, chapter 1 completed. I hope to make longer chapters in the future.

Also, more about Sasuke will be revealed coming up. This chapter was mainly a setting for what was soon to come, KakaSaku!

Please review, they are incredibly appreciated and I will love all who do.

Thanks for reading,

Aegia


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